Overview

Banks, Finance and Investment in Germany

This book provides a critical analysis of widespread claims about the merits of the "bank-based" German system of investment finance. The purpose of the book is to provide an analytical foundation for these claims, and to confront them with empirical evidence from the German economy in the postwar period. The authors show that these claims are not supported by the evidence. This is an important finding, as it reveals that there is no basis for the view that the German system of investment finance is one that should be emulated by other countries.

Product Details

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. A theoretical framework for analysing the effects of the financial system on economic performance; 3. The significance of bank loans in the finance of aggregate investment in Germany; 4. Legal forms of enterprise in Germany, and their implications for the role of the German financial system; 5. The structure of the German banking system; 6. Bank supervisory board representation and other aspects of German bank lending to firms; 7. German bank behaviour when firms are in financial distress; 8. The ownership structure of large German firms and its implications for German banks' corporate control role; 9. Do German banks act as delegated exercisers of equity's control rights?; 10. Conclusion.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a well written book, timely also, on an important topic....The compilation of detailed empirical data and the thorough theoretical background of the discussion make the book a most valuable contribution to the corporate finance literature." Economica

"The authors should be applauded for concentrating on the thorough and fair testing of a hypothesis." Daniel Hardy, Finance & Development